A proper title for week 3 is “Rise and Fall.” Besides the , the NFL’s unbeaten teams are a list of unusual suspects. The , , , and stand at 3-0, and the stay unbeaten as well at 2-0. Some of the other teams on the rise after week 3 are not unbeaten, but are pretty close to it. The , , , and stand at an impressive 2-1.

So those teams are on the rise, but who is on the fall right now? Remember those teams that everyone thought were going to dominate this season. You know, the , , , and ? Well, things are going awry on those fronts so far. The battered Colts now stand at 1-2 to start the season, the Saints haven’t found anything defensively and are also stuck at 1-2 as a result, and the Browns are simply struggling on all facets. They went from the sexy playoff pick to an underachieving, 0-3 ball club that is questioning their starting quarterback. It seem the switch from to is coming any minute now.

The Patriots aren’t falling like other teams, but the air was sucked out Gillette Stadium following a devastating 38-13 loss to the rival . This game not only left the Patriots in second place behind the Bills in the , but it also left us with a lot of questions. Are the Patriots really fine without Tom Brady at quarterback? Does their defense appear to be bit older and slower these days? Is arrogant for not getting a veteran quarterback and just relying on his system to carry ? Thankfully there is a lot of season left to play, and those questions will eventually be answered down the road.

This week certainly proved the old adage that is often used in football. The game is played on the field, not on paper.

The Best of Week 3

Best QB: - After getting a passed picked off for a touchdown early in the first quarter, Rivers had the hot hand for the rest of the night. He picked apart the New York Jets defense for 250 passing yards and 3 touchdowns, helping the capture their first win of the season on Monday night.

Best RB: - Wow! Wow! Wow! That was amazing! 113 rushing yards, 4 rushing touchdowns, and a 19 yard touchdown pass against the Patriots. Fantasy owners around the world who either had Brown or faced Brown must have had a proverbial stroke when they saw the stat line. I must say, it’s nice to see him back in topnotch condition after battling injuries for the past couple of seasons.

Best WR: – He captured week 2 honors, but I feel week 3 was even better. 6 receptions for 155 yards and a touchdown is the type of production teams get from All-Pro wide receivers. As long as Marshall stays clean off the field, he is on the right track for an All-Pro year.

Best Defensive: – What can you say except the Eagles defense looked unstoppable. They had 8 sacks on a pretty good offensive line, made the mobile look pedestrian, and only allowed 34 yards rushing from one of the best running teams in the league. You really can’t ask your defense to do more.

Best Special Teamer: – Time to show the kickers some love here. Not only did Scobee go 3/3 on field goals this week, but he also saved the Jacksonville Jaguars season by kicking a game winning, 51 yard field goal with 4 seconds left in regulation. That was enough for me to give him the award this week.

Best Rookie: / – It was tough to pick between the two. So, I went with the dreaded tie. Tolbert is the San Diego Chargers starting full back this season, and he’s done an admirable job replacing the great Lorenzo Neal. However, in week 3, he made 4 catches for 17 yards and a touchdown. Pretty good for a position that gets little to no credit.

Meanwhile, Forte is continuing to be the best source of any offense. Sure, that’s not saying much, but he is doing a fine job of creating an Offense Rookie of the Year campaign. Despite having only 89 yards rushing, Forte caught 7 passes for 66 yards and a touchdown. His touchdown reception was the first by a Bears running back since James Allen in 2001.

Best Game of the Week: Miami Dolphins @ New England Patriots- WHAT?!? Patriots fans must think I’m out of my mind here, but I had to pick this game because of its historical relevance. In this game the Patriots snapped their 21 regular season game winning streak while the Dolphins snapped their 11 game road losing streak, the Dolphins rushed for over 200 yards for the first time since 2002 (oddly it was also against the Pats), and as mentioned earlier, Ronnie Brown rushed for 4 touchdowns and passed for another. That hasn’t been done since Paddy Driscoll accomplished the same feat for the Chicago Cardinals on October 7th, 1923.

So, how did those Dolphins beat the powerhouse Patriots? By running a spread offense. How NCAA of them. On a couple of plays, Brown would line up at quarterback with in the backfield and out at flanker. Brown got a good chuck of rushing yards off these direct snaps. It was a brilliant scheme that threw off the Patriots. Just don’t do it next time.

The Worst of Week 3

Worst QB: – While the aren’t helping Thigpen develop, he certainly didn’t help his cause. Thigpen passed for only 128 yards, a touchdown and 3 interceptions. Not to mention, His completion percentage was only 39%. Maybe they would have had better luck with Bobby Thigpen behind center.

Worst RB: / – This might have been due to throwing the ball 67 times in week 3 or the Bears doing a nice job of stopping the run, but Graham and Dunn just couldn’t get it done (no pun intended). The Buccaneers came into the week averaging around 8 yards per carry, but they only managed to get 2.8 yards per carry on 17 attempts and 47 total rushing yards. At least the Buccaneers still won the game though.

Worst WR: – Dallas’ number two wide receiver was MIA on Sunday night. Granted they still won, but after ’s breakout performance, could Crayton’s job as #2 be on the line? Stay tuned.

Worst Defense: Chicago Bears – I don’t know what it is. They played well for three quarters and caused four turnovers, including 3 interceptions off of Brian Griese. But, when it mattered in the 4th quarter, they completely fell apart. Overrated? Overpaid? You don’t want to say it, but the Bears defense hasn’t done anything in the past two weeks to make me think otherwise. A great defense should be able to hold a 10-point lead and bring Brian Griese back down to earth. The Bears never sacked Griese, even though he dropped back to pass 67 times in this game. It’s not like he’s Mr. Mobility back there.

Worst Special Teams Player and Rookie: I’m giving this topic a vacation this week because nothing really stuck out in week 3. This might speak volumes to how underrated special teams units are and how well these rookies are playing so far this year. Or this could speak volumes on my research. For the sake of my argument, I’ll choose the former.

Worst Game of the Week: @ Philadelphia Eagles – Whenever there is a clash of defenses, things can get boring. Call me unappreciative of defensive battles, but this game was one of those where a team wins ugly. Both the Eagles and Steelers’ defenses sent the opposing quarterbacks to the sidelines and held passing below 200 yards and rushing below 70 yards. The Eagles won ugly by a score of 15-6 in the Battle of the Keystone State.

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